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Photo: Lagos Hotelier Turns Job Seeker Into S3x Worker

The Lagos State Police Command has arrested a hotelier, Victor Obano,
for allegedly turning a 23-year-old female job seeker into a commercial
sex worker in the Ijegun area of the state.

The police said Obano, who owned Tisa Hotel, allegedly lured the victim,
Elizabeth, from Akwa Ibom, promising her employment in Lagos State.

Obano allegedly thereafter turned the job seeker into a sex worker in the hotel.

Punch Metro learnt that Elizabeth, a mother of two, reportedly got tired
of being a commercial sex worker, and on October 5, told her elder
sister on the telephone what she was going through.

The sister was said to have informed the police at the Anti-Robbery
Squad of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department,
Yaba, leading to Obano’s arrest.

Punch gathered that another accomplice, a commercial sex worker,
identified as Grace Edet, who allegedly was Elizabeth’s supervisor, was
also picked up by the police.

Speaking with Punch Metro at the command headquarters, Ikeja, Obano, who
admitted to have brought the victim from Akwa Ibom, said he only
assisted her to find a means of livelihood.

He said, “I am the manager of Tisa Hotel in the Ijegun waterside. I am
not a human trafficker. It was only this lady that I brought from the
village. I met with her father and he explained her predicament. She is
23 years old. She has two kids and she was living a miserable life. So, I
decided to get a job for her.

“The police arrested me because I seized her phones. They said I did not
want her to contact her family members, but I collected her phone
because I did not want her to have an affair with several men.

“It was her elder sister who reported the matter to the police. The
victim is with her brother presently. The arrangement was that I would
be paying her and she would also hustle in the hotel and send the money
to take care of her father.

“The police should let this matter be settled amicably. It is a family issue.”

The accomplice, Edet, told our correspondent that Obano had instructed her to train Elizabeth in commercial sex.

She said, “I have worked in the hotel for some years. I am a commercial
sex worker. When the manager came back from Akwa Ibom earlier in the
year, he returned with the lady. He handed her over to me, saying I
should teach her some tricks of the trade.

“I did not know the arrangement between them. When I asked the lady why
she was brought, she replied that she was asked to hustle at the hotel.
So, I do not have any fault in the matter.”

A police source told our correspondent that Obano allegedly had more girls he used as commercial sex workers in his hotel.

The state Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, who paraded the
suspects, said the command would not tolerate any form of crime, urging
the public to always avail the police of credible information.